Types of Management Styles

            The different types of management styles can be the key to your business's success or failure.  Let's face it, when we start a business we may start out with just a hand full of trusted business partners who can somewhat agree on the mission statement.  At some point you will have to hire employees.  Employees can be interesting people, you have to get them to grab hold of your vision so that they are on the same track as the business.  How we manage these people can make or break our business at critical growth moments. As a business the main goal as a whole should be to gain a profit.  Profit = growth+people.

            The management style that you choose can establish whether it runs evenly across the board or spirals out of control. There are four major types of management styles including autocratic, paternalistic, democratic and Laissez- faire.  Now, before we get into these much farther it is important to figure out who you are, find your personality, what kind of leader are you?  Are you a 'What I say goes" or a 'Let it be' or maybe a 'what do you think?'  The type of management style you choose will be based largely on you as a person.  Find a friend, spouse, or co-worker and ask them what kind of leader they think you are, or find a personality test. Your personality, the type of business you operate and the employees that help you operate it will usually determine which is best for you.

            Don't expect to be a certain type of management style if it is not in your personality.  In a perfect world, businesses could be run by four different people that represented each management style. Each management style has its pros and cons.  If you are able, incorporate each management style based on each situation.  If you do desire a certain management style find books on that particular style and read up.  Take a class on leadership which can help you learn more about yourself.

This type of management style allows businesses to keep a blueprint if you will, in how the company operates.  This is because the foundation of a autocratic style of management comes from the idea of a country that is run by a king or dictator.  If you haven't guessed you can run this type of management style the best if your employees are followers and don't normally form their own thoughts or ideas.  They pretty much run the business like they are supposed to because it is the blueprint that they were given for success.  The leader of a business that prefers an autocratic style of managing, most likely enjoys the feeling of authority this style brings.  Of course just like a King, or Dictator, this management style allows the person to make final decisions about the business without the employees having any input but normally bases the decision with the employees in mind and what he or she feels is best for them.  With some businesses this works, for example Papa John's wants their employees to make their pizza exactly as specify.  For one, this provides continuity, so you know no matter where you go in the world, Papa John's pizza will have that same quality taste.

            In a nutshell this management style tells the people what is best for them.  This may sound the same as the autocratic style, but with the Paternalistic style of management, the business leaders are looking for the input of their employees.  The business leader will make the final decision but not without careful consideration of the feedback.  This gives the employees the opportunity to voice their opinions and ideas.  This also allows for more awareness of the employees needs, as people rather than just plain business.

            The Democratic management style is the style grafted from the government system of the United States.  This management style works well because normally there will be several leaders of the same business that are lending their ears to the employees in order to provide good two way communication. The Democratic management style is successful because they allow employees below them to make decisions' on their own much like the different States that make up the U.S. as well as their cities, are able to make their own laws. This type of management style is mostly found in businesses where efficiency is a joint operation.  Much like you would see in a hospital setting, where all the different jobs such as a Nurse, M.D., Radiologist, and Social service representative would work to together with the same goal, heal the patient, but from different perspectives.

Laissez-faire (tolerant, lenient, liberal) management

            This management style by itself would be an extremely bad choice, because by definition it says refusal to interfere.  This type of business management only works if the people involved are self motivated and task oriented.  Much like when a business first starts, each person knows what they need to get done each day.  Nobody has rule over the other and the job still gets done. Like Doctors working together this is because they are highly trained, self-motivated, and professional that they don't require direction or oversight.

            The main thing to keep in mind is to know yourself and the type of manager that you are, some of the best mangers are able to incorporate all of the different management styles. These are normally the 'Type B' personalities.   The basics of these four management styles describe how you allow your employees to function, whether that be on a short leash or a long one. how much you control your employees and how much you allow them to control the working environment.